This Is Where I Came In: Second Life Thriller Optioned By Reese Witherspoon’s Production Company

I’ve been thinking about this for a few days, and not seeing any mention on other SL blogs:

Warner Bros. and Reese Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard are developing a film adaptation of SECOND LIFE. Written by S.J. Watson (Before I Go to Sleep), Second Life is a psychological thriller about a woman who creates an online persona to find the truth behind her sister’s violent murder. Once a devoted wife and mother, Julia starts to lose herself in the lies she creates, jeopardizing not only her marriage, but her son’s safety.

It’s not clear who will star or if the project has been cast; Witherspoon might not take on the role but defer to others as to how to cast it. It’s not a good sign that the blurb on Amazon for the actual book doesn’t actually Second Life, the virtual world.

How well can you really know another person? And how far would you go to find out the truth about them?

When Julia learns that her sister has been violently killed, she knows she must get to the bottom of things. Even if it means jeopardising her relationship with her husband and risking the safety of her son. Getting involved with a stranger online. Losing control.

Perhaps losing everything.

Set in Paris and London, Second Life is about the double lives people lead – and the dark places they can end up in. Tense and unrelenting, it is another brilliant novel from S. J. Watson.

One of the other blip-blurbs just says “‘Watson has hit on something sinister and true with Second Life.’”

Oh, boy. Just when everyone was all pleasantly surprised about the recent positive coverage in the Atlas Obscura article.

It’s all so, so familiar. Just when you think it’s safe to go inworld, somebody gets murdered in a book and the flying penii (and dead smexy bronies) get all the press.

Despite promises to the contrary, I’ve barely been inworld in a couple of months, as the monkey took up cycling for fitness and to raise money for diabetes research. And she’s done very well, having lost almost 30 pounds. Still, I consider myself a Resident and keep up with SL news, even though I’m pretty inactive. I read every Blender tutorial that comes out, including the excellent ones by Aine Caoimhe geared for an OpenSim audience.

I’ve really, really, really been thinking about dipping a toe, but am held back by fear of abject frustration yet again. I feel like I’m standing at the landward end of the diving board, if only I had the time to both ride my new bike 15-20 miles of a weeknight, AND play around online before sleep. See the monkey’s blog for some idea of what she gets up to on two wheels.

Meanwhile, there’s this “thriller option.” I haven’t read the novel that this imaginitively-titled movie will be based on, but the plot as described is making me have a sad.

Because on October 24, 2007, I watched the “CSI:NY” episode that was partly set in Second Life, and that very night I logged in for the very first time. I’d been watching the hypewave a bit as a reader of BoingBoing, which had helped to spread the word about Second Life, and I’d read “Snow Crash” years before, which continues to be a favorite.

Isn’t this where I came in? The plot premise is different, but it’s still “Down The Rabbit Hole,” with murder, intrigue, and blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality.

Crossposted at my other other blog, http://chameleonicpossession.wordpress.com, because reasons.